


An Hour in the Library

by lea_hazel



Series: Decline and Fall [14]
Category: Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Genre: Eavesdropping, Gen, Intrigue, Rebels, Revaire, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-17 12:37:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14189121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/pseuds/lea_hazel
Summary: Verity spends a profitable hour in the library of the Old Palace.





	An Hour in the Library

"We need to keep a close watch along the northern border. They've been growing more audacious of late."

"Do you really think they would dare make a move? We're stronger now than we have ever been before."

He slammed his hand down on the pile of maps scattered on the table before him. "Damn it, Darius, those hollow reassurances are meant for the common people to hear. Don't tell me you've started believing them yourself."

Darius shook his head. "I've chased them down myself, remember? Isolated groups of agitators, nothing more. They don't have it in them to mount a real threat, even if they wanted to."

"No," said Hyperion, shaking his head. "Maybe that was true once, but things have changed. They have _allies_ now. I don't know where or how they manage to do their recruiting, but it's a plain fact. For the first time in years--"

"Your Majesty," interrupted Darius, flicking his eyes down to the map table and then all around the room. "Should we be having this discussion here?"

"Where else, Darius?" demanded Hyperion, his irritation beginning to show in the nervous drumming of his fingers. "This is the most private room in the castle."

"What about the girl?" Darius ventured to ask.

"Who, her?"

Immediately she could feel his eyes on her, as she always could, the intensity of his scrutiny making the back of her neck burn. She kept silent, and kept her nose buried in her book, sitting quite still in her seat with her feet curled beneath her skirts. The scrutiny lasted for one long moment before she heard him snort, and the rustle of fabric indicating him turning away.

"The girl is harmless," he said. "Ignore her."

Resentment flared at the casual dismissal, but Verity tamped it down with practiced ease. She no longer needed to remind herself why it was that she _wanted_  to be dismissed, and how it served her purposes. Only a momentary distraction, after all.

General Darius murmured something too low for her to hear, no matter how she strained her ears.

"Oh, very well," said Hyperion shortly.

He turned to her direction, and Verity looked up from her book just in time to catch his eyes.

"Verity," he said, "be a good girl and go play somewhere else, will you?"

The flare of annoyance was stronger this time, but she pushed it back all the same. Silently, she uncurled herself from her position on the couch and started hunting for her shoes. She'd kicked them off rather carelessly when she sat down to read. For a moment she rested the open book on a nearby table while she bent down to lace her slippers, all the while straining her ears for bits of conversation that might reach her. She had little luck, though.

She tucked the book under her arm and was just about ready to slip silently out the door when she heard a voice call out behind her.

"Verity?"

She turned back without a word and found him looking at her again.

"Leave it," he said, indicating the book she carried with a gesture.

"Of course, Your Majesty," she said, and padded over to the nearest table to set the book down.

She could come back for it later, if she wanted. What bothered her far more was not being able to hear the rest of his conversation with Darius. It was proving unexpectedly educational. And to think, she'd always taken Darius for an insignificant flunky. Here he was, providing useful information to her, however inadvertently. Her tutors were right, after all, it seemed. An hour in the library was never wasted.


End file.
